. But seriously, so what? Is it even possible for a superpower movie to be truly original anymore? In fact, what makesentertaining is its canny combination of familiar ingredients in a textured real-world milieu that gives it fresh flavor.
From the start, New Orleans provides a gritty setting for a thriller that unfolds predominantly at night. As a cargo ship pulls into the port at 3 a.m., a sharp-suited, sleazy middleman named Biggie oversees the unloading of countless crates all packed with iridescent capsules, which he offers up free to the assembled "young entrepreneurs" for distribution. A bug-eyed guy named Newt , who appears to be as much a consumer as a vendor, asks what's the product.
Developed by a shadow government defense contractor in a program headed by Gardner , a scientist with little concern for human casualties, the pill has been tested on military units. One of those lab rats was Art , aka the Major, who has passed on genetic modifications acquired during the testing to his daughter Tracy through a process akin to fetal alcohol syndrome. In a touch that's schematic but functional, Robin has been learning about that condition in high school.
Having established a trio of principal characters in gray moral areas — drug-dealer, unorthodox cop, ex-soldier with PTSD and a murky agenda — the script deftly broadens our understanding of them as they form an alliance.
Until I hit the word Netflix, I thought this was real life news - because... 2020.
Once you’ve watched Project Power, if your superhero pill movie itch isn’t scratched my first indie film, The Subjects, made out of Melbourne Australia in 2015 is the same idea. Check it out 👍
Why are all of these Netflix movies so subpar? It's weird.